Reflecting on Modeling

As busy as our lives are as educators, it’s important to set aside time to reflect. Time with a coach makes the space for reflection when it otherwise might be crowded out of a teacher’s busy day.
 
It’s valuable for teachers to reflect on their own practice, and it can also be valuable for teachers to reflect on the practice of others. That’s where modeling comes in. When a coach models a lesson in a teacher’s classroom, it opens the opportunity for reflecting from the perspective of an outside observer, rather than her typical involved perspective as the one leading the learning. The value of reflecting on another’s practice can be undermined, however, if the observer moves too quickly to evaluation. Modeling that could be a springboard for change can become a verification of current practice if the teacher takes an evaluative stance.
 
Instead, encourage your observer to be a noticer, taking careful notes of what is seen and heard. This allows the teacher to see with new eyes, helping them set aside assumptions and view the lesson from an objective stance. It can be difficult to avoid evaluation, both positive and negative, when observing another teacher. However, evaluative comments tend to validate or even justify a teacher’s current practice rather than opening her eyes to new possibilities, so it’s best to delay evaluation.
 
After an observation, one teacher said, “I noticed that you had smooth transitions.”  Although she used the language of noticing, this was, in reality, an evaluative statement that did little to enhance her understanding. So I pushed a bit. “What was it that made the transitions smooth?” After a thoughtful pause while she reviewed her notes, she said, “I noticed that you used student comments to transition from one part of the activity to another.” Now there was a comment she could grow from!
 
Pinning the reflective conference on observations that are objective and specific, rather than evaluative or general, is likely to reveal nuances of practice that enhance the learning experience. The table below provides some examples. The statements on the right illustrate objective noticing, which is more likely to support teacher learning.

Evaluative Noticing

Objective Noticing

Your transitions were smooth. Your objective was clear. Students were engaged. You listened really well to your students. Students did a great job of figuring out the criteria for an effective argument.   You did a good job of explaining terms.   The lesson was fun!       They really got it!     You did a good job of including your EB students.

You used student language to move from one part of the activity to the next. You asked students to put the objective into their own words. You included learning experiences that used different modalities: a video, art, turn-and-talk, graphic organizers, and written text.    You included the words students had said when you defined terms for the class.   Asking students to rank different arguments helped them figure out the criteria.   You used lots of synonyms when explaining terms.    You used commercials from Nickelodeon that were targeted to young children.   You gave students lots of time to talk so they could construct meaning together.   You provided sentence stems to help your EB students participate in the conversation.

Whether you are modeling a lesson for just one teacher or a larger group, centering reflection on objective noticings will help to make the experience a meaningful one.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Learning history & empathy though Russell Freedman book clubs:

https://choiceliteracy.com/article/russell-freedman-book-clubs/
This short video about hand signals for equitable class discussions:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9T99GAWuKE
 
 
When does “cold calling” work?
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/does-cold-calling-work-heres-what-the-research-says/
 
 
Use music to buffer silent activities (brief podcast episode):
 
https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/edutips/edutip10/
 
 
6 ways to confer in a crowded classroom (you could skip right down to those 6 ways):
 
https://threeteacherstalk.com/2015/03/30/6-ways-to-confer-in-the-crowded-classroom/
 
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
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